Tag: Auston Matthews

It’s never nice to be proven wrong, but whenever it comes to me writing down opinion or prediction I’m used to it. I do Mock Drafts ahead of the NHL Draft each year and I’d hate to see my accuracy record on that. I’ve predicted every first overall pick (this year I’m 100% sure I’ll be wrong) but outside of that I’m usually quite a bit off with some picks.

And I was wrong again with an article I wrote a little over a year ago. During the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs the NHL Draft Lottery took place and the Toronto Maple Leafs retained the first overall pick.

The article I wrote in response was titled “Winning the draft lottery won’t speed up the Leafs rebuild”

At the start of the 2016/17 NHL season there was a lot of talk about rookies coming into this season.

And why wouldn’t there be? Auston Matthews is one of the most exciting players to arrive in Toronto in recent years, Patrik Laine has a lethal shot and is too young to drink in the US and each team has a whole host of rookies looking to break into the big league.

One of those players looking to break into the NHL was former London Knight Mitch Marner.

This is the part where I’d usually point and laugh and say “you were all wrong” but to be honest, I was just as wrong as most about this 5’11″/ 160 lbs forward.

In the latest edition of Across The Pond I revisit a topic I spoke about last month where I predicted that both the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs would both improve this season but only slightly.

Tonight the 2015 NHL Draft first overall pick Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers take on the 2016 NHL Draft first overall pick Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs face off for the first of two meetings between the sides this season.

Both teams have vastly different experiences early in the 2016-17 season, watch below as I talk about tonight’s meeting at the season ahead.

I hope you enjoyed this latest video, more written content is coming (once this goes up I will be starting a new article).

With the NHL season drawing ever closer, it’s the perfect time to make bold statements that you’ll regret come the season end in April.

So in true bold statement spirit, here are the rookies I think you should know about going into the season.

The twist though, I will not talk about Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs) or Patrik Laine (Winnipeg Jets) because that would just be an easy way to use the word count that I don’t actually have, but it’d also waste your time because i’m sure you know exactly what to expect from these two.

As well as excluding Matthews and Laine, I’ll also exclude guys like Matt Murray (for obvious reasons) and William Nylander (22 games already in the NHL) just to focus on newer guys to the league.

We’re three days into the World Cup of Hockey 2016 and so far, it has been pretty exciting and proving doubters (like myself) wrong. They players obviously want to be there and compete, the standard is as high as it should be and the games are as exciting and fiercely contested as any fan would hope for.

With all eight teams playing their first games, Monday night saw day three of the competition mix it up with one game from Group A and the other from Group B.

First on the billing saw the Czech Republic take on Team Europe. The Czechs were brushed aside in their opening game against Canada, losing 6 – 0 while Europe shocked the US with a 4 – 1 victory on Saturday night.

After the 2016 NHL Draft Lottery came to a conclusion with a rare win for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the first 14 teams to select in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft are confirmed so it’s time to start looking at who’s picking who.

Last night the Toronto Maple Leafs won the 2016 NHL Draft Lottery, effectively sealing Auston Matthews fate as the consensus number one selection.

Barring a brilliant late surge from Finnish winger Patrik Laine, Matthews will be a Maple Leaf come June’s draft, that’s not to mention the other first round pick the Leafs got through the Phil Kessel trade that will see them pick somewhere late in the first round, where they could pick up a guy like Swedish forward Rasmus Asplund or even another centre in Brett Howden.

But let’s not get too caught up in all the hype, yes Matthews is an absolutely phenomenal talent and the second centre in two drafts to have the “generational” label, much like Connor McDavid he’ll be a great cornerstone of a franchise for many years to come, but let’s not confuse that with him being an immediate saviour.

If you haven’t heard of Auston Matthews then you probably haven’t really followed Ice Hockey properly for the last year, or you just have very little interest (which is why you’ll have closed the web browser before finishing this paragraph.)

Matthews is the consensus number one pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft in Buffalo this summer, the 18-year old from Arizona took the unusual route of spending his draft year playing professional hockey rather than US or Canadian Junior, joining ZSC Lions where he registered 46 points in 36 regular season games for the Swiss side, proving his incredible abilities against men already.

So there’s been a lot return about this American centre who’ll likely be wearing an NHL sweater next season for whoever wins the draft lottery, but let’s get to know one of his closest competitors to be the number one selection on June 24th.